What Once Was
by ArizonaRanger057
Summary: "What once was can be again, but only through the mistakes of the old world can we learn how to survive this new world." A dead city in its death throws may not have been the safest place to seek refuge, but it was better than living in the wildlands, that was 'their' domain after all. (1st POV Post-Apocalyptic One-Shot)
1. Chapter 1

-=What Once Was=-

I shot up from my makeshift bed in a cold sweat, eyes immediately sweeping the room for anything out of place, only to see three empty sleeping bags and small rays of dusty light funneling in between the rotted planks over the sparse few windows in the painfully decrepit apartment.

In a panic, my hands fumbled for the Revolver that was kept under my pillow, Jaune had given it to me when it all started as a means to defend myself, and I've never gone anywhere without it, both for my own sake and his.

The sound of something shuffling in the kitchen shook me from my inner thoughts.

At this point, I was fully awake, but not for the reason I would have liked, someone was inside the apartment that had served as my safehouse since the beginning.

I carefully got to my feet, revolver poised too fire at the slightest disturbance, my feet silently carrying me to the entrance of the small kitchen.

With a second of preparation, I jumped into the kitchen and pointed the gun at the first human form I saw.

My shoulders slumped at the sight of my friend, Blake, getting herself a bowl of dry cereal.

"Oh my goodness, Blake I almost shot you." I sighed, dropping my arms to my sides.

Blake let out a shaky breath and shot me a short glare before responding "Jaune and Pyr are out scavenging, and I'm 'trying' to make you breakfast."

I smiled sheepishly and sit down on one of the rickety wooden chairs next to the dinner table, placing my revolver on the table.

"I'm really sorry, I'm just jumpy is all," I say sheepishly, my voice low and my gaze to the floor.

"It's fine Rubes, I'm just startled is all," Blake replied, sitting across from me and placing a bowl of dry cereal and a spoon in front of the both of us.

"I'm still sorry, I shouldn't have overreacted so much," I replied, my spoon lazy pushing the cereal around in its bowl.

"Well don't, we need to be careful now more than ever," Blake said back, her eyes dark and her mouth set in a thin line.

"I guess so," I say quietly, barely a whisper.

The abandoned gas station had been the first place Pyrrha and I had hit for food to add to our already dwindling supplies, while it wasn't anything to write home about, the two cans of tourist's delight and the bottle of water had been a good morale boost for us as we ventured deeper into the city.

We very rarely ever ventured too deep, there were too many angles to be ambushed for two people to cover efficiently, I was sure once Pyrrha got a little more experience under her belt we could scavenge a bit further into the city, but until then we had to make due with what we could find here.

"Isn't that old Army Checkpoint down the road from here?" Pyrrha asked in a whisper, narrowly hopping over a pile of broken glass, silence was key in spotting the enemy before they spotted you, and in this city, it was life or death.

"The only thing you'll find there is your death," I stated silently, I had shot her down on searching the checkpoint three times already, but she was adamant about at least checking it out before discounting it.

A many of people had thought the same thing Pyrrha did, and they fell prey to the same people I had once served with, the people I had called my brothers and sisters.

If it hadn't been for that checkpoint, I would have been sent further into the city to assist with evacuations. hundreds of thousands of people trying to flee from the Red Plague, the inner city detail didn't even stand a chance, dead within a week, their gear and vehicles scavenged by the White Fang and used against anyone who dared to stand up to them, and those who didn't.

They used their stolen weapons and uniforms to fight a war on every man woman and child that didn't call themselves a member of the Fang.

I'd been lucky to have escaped my post in the first place, my fellow soldiers choosing the easy way out, preying on the civilians they had been ordered to protect, killing and looting until they became one of the most well-off factions in the city.

And that is what Pyrrha couldn't understand, she was always looking for the good in people when I had learned that no one was good, we were all just doing what we needed to survive.

I pushed my train of thoughts to the corner of my mind. It wouldn't do either of us any good to dwell on the past.

"Hey, isn't that a Fang truck?" Pyrrha asked uncertainly, bringing her pump-action shotgun to bear and looking to me for guidance, I was the only one with even the slightest combat experience after all.

I looked ahead and confirmed her observation, "Yea, what the hell is the Fang doing this far out of the city?" I asked aloud, my brow scrunching in clear confusion

"Should we check it out? We might be able to get some good stuff if they're here." Pyrrha said, taking a step towards the van before I grabbed her by the collar and pulled her through a broken window that had been used to display expensive clothes before the outbreak.

I put my finger to my lips, and let go of her, moving to assess the situation.

What I saw was not good

Four Fang members with old military vests and helmets stained with blood, the Fang symbol of a wolf and three claw marks painted in white, their carriers filled to the brim with large magazines that presumably went with the comparatively large rifles cradled in each of their arms.

One other man was in the bunch, but he wasn't fully armored and armed like his compatriots, no, his entire outfit screamed 'I'm a CO*, shoot me now!'

And oh did I want to shoot him, after all, I'm sure he had plenty of blood on his hands, you didn't get high up the chain of command in the Fang by being merciful.

"What do you see?" Pyrrha whispered to me, her knuckles white and her breath ragged.

"Five guys, one looks like an officer," I whispered, ducking back into cover and checking the magazine on my handgun, a semi-automatic from when I was still serving. seven rounds. "Our best bet is to hide out in here and wait till they leave, we're outmanned and outgunned."

Pyrrha nodded her head in agreement but stayed rooted to the ground, as if her feet were frozen to the ground, her eyes portraying a visage of fear.

I couldn't blame her, the transition from television secret agent to real life survival was rough, and one that never goes smoothly.

"Pyr, we need to move now, if we don't we're dead" I harshly whispered to her, grabbing her arm and guiding her into the back room of the shop. It was cramped and smelled like shit, but it beat getting shot.

I helped settle Pyrrha into a chair in one of the corners of the room, as soon as she was situated, I shut the strong looking door and pushed a heavy looking bookshelf in front of it as quietly as I could.

"What do we do if they find us?" Pyrrha asked, her voice cracking and her eyes on me as she tried her best to keep her composure.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," I said, my eyes sharp, scanning the room for anything we could use. picking out a few boxes and the like we could scavenge from as soon as the Fang left the area. "Although we should be fine, the fang may be strong, but the only reason they'd be all the way out here is if they are looking for something, or someone specific."

My words rang true not a moment later, a trio of gunshots rang out, not quite loud enough to be rifles, but sounding just loud enough to be a handgun of some sort, so I could only assume it was the officer doing the shooting.

A few minutes after the gunfire, we could hear the sound of what I could only assume was the Fang truck, its wheels crunching glass and the errant piles of garbage littering the street as it slowly drove by the shop, it's passengers no doubt scanning their surrounding for anything they might have a use for.

Lucky for us, it seemed they didn't have a use for ripped and destroyed suits and dresses.

After a few minutes of waiting to be extra sure that threat was gone, I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding and I moved away from the barricaded door to started scavenging the room. Pyrrha took after my example and began digging through a rotted cardboard box with still shaking hands.

I looked away from her and began scavenging from my own box, the only sound in the small musky and rotted room being that of trinkets and trash being moved or thrown into a pile.

"How do you deal with all of.. all of this?" Pyrrha asked, pausing in her scavenging, her eyes wet with tears and her shoulders slumped. She leaned against the wall and slid down to the floor, her face in her hand. "How do you deal with it all Jaune?.."

I opened my mouth to speak but closed it when no words came out, I hadn't really thought about it too much, always too focused on surviving and making it to the next day to really focus on the gruesome details this life brought.

"I don't.." I said with a sigh, pausing in my own scavenging to look Pyrrha directly in the eyes, "I just focus on surviving to tomorrow."

The both of us went back to scavenging the sparse room in silence, finding nothing more than a couple of needles and spools of thread we could use if our patchwork clothes ripped anymore.

I silently moved the bookshelf out of the way of the heavy looking door and cracked it open, my eyes searching the destroyed store for any signs of danger before I gave a nod and opened it all the way, prompting Pyrrha to stand up from her place and collect her little gear.

All things considered, our group was damn well off in comparison to a lot of other people still in the city, either you were a slave to the Fang, you were killed by the Fang, or you were good enough at hiding to keep the Fang from noticing you.

I glanced at Pyrrha as she pulled herself through the broken glass window, my eyes immediately going back to the trash covered street to scan for any threats or dangers.

If they were to be discovered by the Fang, Pyrrha and the girls would surely be kept as slaves to the high ranking Fang members, and I'd either be killed on the spot or used to move rubble until I collapsed from exhaustion to be shot, butchered and fed to the slaves that survived the day.

After all, why waste good food on humanity when they can feed themselves.

I closed my eyes and shook my head to rid myself of those thoughts, they would do nothing but distract me, and every moment I spent distracted would be a moment someone could spend getting a better angle on me.

"Where to now?" Pyrrha asked nervously, her head snapping to every little sound as she tried her best to keep her composure.

"The Fang was clearly in a hurry, so they're bound to have missed something after finding what they were looking for," I said, gesturing to the building the white truck had been parked outside of not an hour before.

"We're going there?" Pyrrah asked with a pale face and fear clear in her eyes.

"Yep, There's bound to be something there," I said, stopping in front of the destroyed door.

It took the too of us about an hour to slowly move through the whole building, clearing each and every room, floor by floor before I'd even imagine looking for any loot. By the time we'd finished, the sun was starting to get lower in the sky.

"Let's search this place and then book it home, if we go fast we can have this place emptied within the hour," I said, shoving my handgun into my waistband and entering through a destroyed doorway, no doubt having been kicked in my Fang goons.

Inside the room was exactly what I'd expected, two corpses, both of them human, one male and the other female. From what I could see the Fang must have caught the two of them by surprise, the man looked like he went down first, and from what he could see it looked like the woman went down with a fight.

"Pyr, go search the bedroom," I said simply, kneeling by the woman, I didn't want Pyrrha watching me loot the dead.

The red-headed woman complied quickly, leaving me to shove my hands into the woman's pockets and pull out a handful of bullets, and a tube of almost empty chapstick.

The bullets were to a different gun than mine, so they were pretty much useless at the moment, but the chapstick was a welcome sight.

I moved to the man, my hands delving into his pockets, he had a little less stuff than I would have liked, a single crumpled granola bar, but still a great haul, all things considered.

With a quick prayer, I left the bodies and moved on to the kitchen, searching the cabinets threw me a net worth of nothing, and the fridge was empty as well.

I suppose those would have been the first place the Fang would have looked.

I walked past the bodies on my way to Pyrrha before pausing. I looked down and the man's feet and saw an almost brand new pair of tan combat boots, just like the ones I'd had in the service.

I knelt down and pulled one of the boots off, putting it up to the bottom of my own shoe with the hope it would be the right size.

With a look of satisfaction, I pulled the other boot of the man and shoved them into my backpack, they were too small for me, but if one of the girls could use them they would be well worth the space.

Pyrrha shortly returned from the bedroom, her backpack looked a bit heavier than when she'd entered.

"I found a couple cans and an empty revolver." She said, handing me a filthy looking silver revolver.

I took the pistol and looked it over, the grip was taped over and bearly holding together, the front sight was bent inwards at an awkward angle, and the barrel itself looked to be bents as well.

Simply put, the gun looked like it had been through hell and back.

I pulled the bullets I had found from my pocket and slid them into the chamber of the revolver, closing it with a satisfying click before pulling my semi-automatic from my waist and replacing it with the dirty revolver.

"There are six rounds in there," I said, Handing the semi-auto to a ginger looking Pyrrha.

"I thought you have seven left?" Pyrrha asked, confusion clear on her face.

"Save the last one for yourself," I said with dark eyes, I wasn't going to let anyone become a slave to the Fang or anyone for that matter, ever again.

"O- Oh" Pyrrha whispered with understanding, tucking her newly acquired handgun into her waistband and standing in the middle of the room nervously.

After a few more minutes and a double check of the apartment, we left, the sun was starting to get low at that point, and I really didn't want to get stuck outside during the night.

That's when the Grimm came out.

-=A/N=-

An idea that came to me after listening to a song called 'Frank Sinatra' by Cake, on repeat for three days straight.

I'm gonna keep this as a One-Shot for now, but if it gains enough traction I'll continue it.


	2. Chapter 2

The sun was dipping uncomfortably low by the time we'd made it back home, the distant sound of guttural howling drove a cold shiver down my spine, Pyrrha looked even worse for wear, her eyes darting at every shadow and trash bag rolling in the wind like it'd pop out and make a snack of her internals.

Not that I blamed her, I wasn't much better, with nothing but the newly acquired revolver to protect myself, I'd be in the shit if we'd been jumped by Grimm.

My eyes scanned every nook and cranny around me, every shopfront or broken window was an open invitation to be ambushed.

As soon as we'd began approaching our building, I took the lead and ushered Pyrrha into a nearby ally, even from the slightest glance I could tell her legs were shaking, this was the most eventful scavenging run she'd ever been on, and it showed.

After a moment of walking in tense silence, we'd come to our destination, a heavy emergency door that lead to the building's staircase, we'd entered as silently as we could.

"Go ahead, I'll lock it up," I whispered to Pyrrha, getting nothing but a silent nod of acknowledgment in return as I began barricading the door with a set of makeshift bolts and a selection of heavy furniture.

As soon as I'd finished I followed behind Pyrrha, up to the third floor of the decrepit apartment building, the only ground floor entrance having just been blocked.

Exiting the stairs, I was greeted with the musty smell of the old carpet, the dark hallway being barely illuminated by orangeish red light being filtered in from a bored up window at the end of the hall.

I let my tense shoulders relax for a moment with a slight sigh before walking to our 'hideout', in reality, it was just Ruby's old apartment, but it didn't matter either way. It kept us safe, from both the Fang, Exposure and Grimm.

I approached a door with an off-kilter plaque reading '#037' before produced a loose key from my back pocket and inserting it into the lock. A turn of the key and a squeaky knob later and I was back into the safest place I could be.

I quickly closed the door behind me and locked it, both the deadbolt and the numerous, more recently added chains and locks.

As soon as everything was squared away, I entered the living room turned shared sleeping quarters, it wasn't the most comfortable, nor was it the safest place. But it was home nonetheless, and it'd served its purpose.

However with the Fang coming further and further out, even if just for something specific, was an added safety concern.

Meaning they'd need to find a new place to live.

"Hey Jaune, you good?" Ruby said, her head peeking from the arch that lead to the kitchen, a slightly worried expression on her face.

"Yeah, I'm good Rubes," I said with a small forced smile, before entering the kitchen and placing my backpack with Pyrrha's on the dining room table where she'd already started emptying hers to take stock of the run.

I sat down across from the red-haired woman and began doing the same under the faint flickering of candlelight, untill everything we'd found was in a neat pile in front of me.

I took stock of it all, five cans of tourists delight, three bottles of water, used chapstick, the beaten-up revolver with four rounds, the small pair of tan combat boots, a half-used pocket matchbook, and finally, a small lockbox, it's contents a mystery seeing as it was still locked.

"All things considered, I'd say that was one of our better runs," I said matter of factly, still holding the scratched and dented black lockbox.

"If we ration this food and water we'll be able to get a good three days," Blake said with a small smile, her face bearly visible in the candlelight.

I smiled again, I'd done my job well, but there's no way I'd be able to ignore the newest threat to our collective survival.

"Sorry to break the mood, but there is one thing that we need to discuss as a group," I said with a serious face and gaining the attention of everyone in the room, Silver, amber, and green eyes staring back at me with worried looks.

"What is it?" Ruby said worriedly.

"We ran into a Fang truck today, on 87th," I stated simply.

Blake was the first to react, she tried to hide her sneer in the darkness, but it'd been hard not to notice, Ruby wasn't taking it well either.

"They'd rolled up with an officer and four grunts, kited for a firefight." I stated matter of factly, "They were looking for something or someone, gunned a couple down, and bugged out."

"He's right," Pyrrha stated shakily, her eyes glued to her lap, "We'd gone in after them, found all this stuff there."

There was a moment of silence before.

"What does that mean for us?" Ruby asked, looking to me for advice on the matter.

I sighed, they'd not like it, but it was what needed to happen if we were to survive.

"We need to find a new place, further out of town before the Fang starts sending regular expeditions," I said with a grim face. "We're safe for at least a day or two, but first thing in the morning we're going to need to start scouting."

There was a unanimous look of fear from the three girls, but I knew they'd pull through, they wouldn't have made it this far if they couldn't.

"Ruby, first thing in the morning, I want you to do a checkup of the truck, triple check everything, we need it to bug out," I said our eyes locked as she gave me a nod, we were lucky she was such a good mechanic.

I looked between Blake and Pyrrha, " I need you both to pack up, anything and everything we might need."

They both nodded, a simple task, but no less important.

"We'll get through this, just like we have everything else," I said with a smile before standing up, lockbox still in hand.

I left the kitchen and sat down at our makeshift workbench, small tools and modified gear strewn about the surface.

I retrieved a small pouch from one of the shelves and opened it, The lockpicking set had been a blessing to find and had proved it's use on more than one occasion.

Withdrawing the tension wrench, and a small pick, I got to work, the small amount of light of the candle by my side having proven itself invaluable in and of itself.

After a few minutes, the lock turned with a satisfying click, I smiled as I returned the tools and opened the lockbox, it's contents whipping the smile off my face in seconds.

I withdrew a laminated badge, the emblem of the Vale Defence Force right below a photo of the man I'd looted earlier, his uniform in pristine condition, the Lieutenant bars on his beret shining even through the grimy photo.

I placed the badge next to me, the next to come out was a handgun almost identical to my own, I thumbed the mag release, and racked the slide back, clearing the weapon and taking stock of its ammo, a full magazine with a round in the chamber, seventeen rounds.

I placed the clear weapon and ammo beside me, and withdrew the final item, a small USB drive, it's contents were impossible for me to read, and likely had been since the power went out, but that didn't stop it from digging at my mind.

Then it all clicked; the Fang, boots, ID, and USB.

The Fang was looking for something, that's the only reason they'd be this far out of the inner city, and it seems they hadn't found it.

We'd found it instead.

I adopted a hard look, hands falling on the newly acquired pistol, ammo, and badge.

I returned to the kitchen, placing all four items on the table for everyone to see.

Everyone paused in their eating, a small portion of canned meat and glass of water in front of the three, with a portion put aside for me.

I sat down, leaning my arms against the table and holding the USB up for them all to see.

"We have a slight problem," I said darkly, before returning the device to the table, and unloading the full magazine.

"Give me that pistol," I said, hand outstretched to Pyrrha until I felt the familiar weapons weight in my hands. I quickly cleared it and unloaded the ammo onto the table with the rest.

"I think I know what the Fang was looking for," I whispered.

A/N

Yep, I'm not dead, just really fucken busy, but with my schedule opening up for a couple of months, hopefully, I'll get everything updated and get those stories cranked out.

Next to be updated is 'The Emporer Protects', because I know ya'll have been waiting on that one for a while.

If ya'll have any questions or anything, just shoot me a PM, and remember, Reviews are the thing here that drives me to kick chapters out faster, so if you want these stories to come out faster, just drop a quick review!


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